Last week was for audio, but here are three books I recently read in the flesh, as so many of you choose to do as well. Audio or print, the stories remain the same. If something in one of these books appeals to you and you’re an audiobook person, by all means, listen.

First, The Marriage of Opposites, by Alice Hoffman.

I have loved Alice Hoffman’s books for years, and “The Marriage of Opposites” didn’t entirely disappoint. Her portrayal of setting is exquisite – in this case, St. Thomas in the first half of the 1800’s, then Paris. Her imagery is vivid, and her research through. I have no doubt but that the historical detail offered in “The Marriage of Opposites” is accurate.

I’m new to listening. It’s only recently that I’ve begun to intersperse eye-reading with ear-reading. And it’s taken discipline, keeping my mind on every spoken word, rather then letting it wander, as sometimes happens with a book. But for those times when you can’t be glued to the physical page – like when you’re driving or working out – listening to audiobooks is really pretty cool. I guess I can say that because I’ve lucked into some well done ones. Lucked into? Actually, the best were recommendations from a local independent bookseller. In case you don’t have one of those yourself, there’s me. Here are three recommendations of books that I loved. You may want to read them in print. I just happened to listen.

Eclectic. That’s how I’d describe my reading so far this summer. If you read Part 1 of “My Recent Reading,” you’ll know that by early July, I had finished reading a light-hearted summer novel, a memoir, and the new Harper Lee. This next batch of book reviews include an adventure novel, a magical YA novel, an audiobook, and a book about Huntington’s Disease. Here goes.

Several years ago, I read – and loved – “The Girls,” so when I saw that its author, Lori Lansens, had a new book out, “The Mountain Story,” I quickly bought it.

There are many things on my to-blog-about list, like multi-tasking, cat videos, and food expiration dates. But you read my blogs because you read my books, and right now, in the thick of the summer reading season, I need to blog about books – specifically the ones I’ve read.

Summer is a great reading time for me. Last weekend being a quiet one, no guests, just DH and me, I read all day Saturday and Sunday, AND continued listening to an audiobook for six hours, back and forth to the lake.

I’ve done a lot of reading this summer. I’ve also spent a lot of time studying reader reviews on Amazon, as well as taking part in discussion groups on Goodreads. Two of the books I’ve read, in particular – Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman and Lisa Genova’s Inside the O’Briens – had endings with which readers took issue. And I don’t just mean readers saying they didn’t like the ending. I mean readers saying that the ending “stank,” that the author “blew it,” that the ending “ruined” the book. We’re talking over-the-top stridency.

There’s reading. And then there’s READING. The first is a solitary endeavor from start to finish, done on the subway, or curled up in a chair, or in bed. The second adds a step at the end: discussing a book with someone else who has read it. That person may be a single individual. It may be a group of women in a nail shop. It may be a formal book group, either one you’ve been in for a while or one affiliated with a bookstore.

Just finished my next book! I’ve been working on this baby for more than a year, and that doesn’t count the months before I started the actual writing, when I focused on research. This book – no title yet – demanded a lot of research. I had to learn about the tools a carpenter would keep in her truck, the type of projects she would do, which ones she would like and which ones not, what her hands would look like at the end of the day. I had to learn about an architect’s road to licensure, what her office would look like, and how she might approach a project. I had to learn how a locally-produced, home-renovation tv show might be taped, the prep work that would go into it, and the people who would be on the set. I’m clearly summarizing it for you, but you get my drift.

And so comes the Monday after the first weekend you’ve all have with my newest book. I sit on tenterhooks wondering, worrying, hoping.

Sweet Salt Air has actually been out and around for the sake of getting early reviews. Part of the promotional campaign leading up to its publication entailed sending Advance Reading Copies to more than a hundred book groups around the country. In return, they’ve posted reviews in blogs and on Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon, and the like. Excerpts of some of these reviews appeared in a New York Times Book Review ad on Sunday, June 16. Here’s the ad. Pretty, huh?

For starters, I feel like it’s about time! I finished writing Sweet Salt Air a year ago, and though my publisher needed these months to publish the book well – and they have! – I feel like you all have waited forever. On one hand, I want you hungry, so that you’ll race out and buy the book on the very first day it goes on sale. On the other hand, I hope you haven’t been angry with me for making you wait so long. So, a huge thanks for your patience.

What kinds of books do you like? Do you switch between genres or stick to one? Me, I usually avoid non-fiction. Since I read the newspaper daily, I don’t want more of the same in my free time. Likewise blood and gore; the real world has plenty. No, fiction is definitely my thing, but, within that, I’m eclectic. I’ll read anything that’s highly recommended and well written, though recommended or not, well written or not, if a book is boring fifty pages in, I’m done. Likewise if a book is so dense that I have to struggle to understand it. I’m past school. The reading I do now isn’t for making honor roll. It’s for intellectual stimulation, emotional gratification, and/or pure enjoyment.